Pre-Service Training: Blended Training Curriculum

FosterParentCollege.com® provides a series of online courses that can be blended with a classroom-based pre-service curriculum to reduce in-person meeting time. These online courses were developed with funding from a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health (Grant #HD054032). Entitled Web-Enhanced Pre-Service Training for Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Parents, this grant also provided funding for a study of the blended training program (see below).

The 10 self-paced online courses, ranging from The Child Welfare Team to Child Development, cover the general topics typically addressed in pre-service training. Each course is presented by a national expert and includes interactive exercises, handouts, and a review questionnaire.

The curriculum is written with four in-person training sessions, yet is easily modified to meet local needs. The classroom provides staff the opportunity to interact with potential resource parents, review online courses, answer questions, and present state or agency information.

A research study of the effectiveness of this training was conducted jointly by Northwest Media, Inc. and the State of Oregon Department of Human Services. The study found, among other things, a significant improvement in parent retention when using this blended training approach. The final report on the study can be found on our website. View Report Summary. View Report. Also, results of the study are reported in our recent article, Efficacy of Blended Preservice Training for Resource Parents, which appeared in Child Welfare (Vol.93, #6, pp. 45-72).

This pre-service option is available to all FPC agency accounts, including the free 200-page curriculum manual, online management system, and online training and tech support.

Organization of Blended Training

Introduce parents to online pre-service training schedule; explain how to use online classes; lead group activities. The curriculum for the meeting is flexible and offers the opportunity to observe parents in a group setting. There is the opportunity to provide unique state/agency information or required training that is not covered in the online training.

Assign Course Cluster 1:

The Child Welfare TeamOnline

Child Abuse & NeglectOnline

Parent-Child AttachmentOnline

Understanding Behavior in Foster ChildrenOnline

Review of Online Course Cluster 1; group activities that complement the online training; disseminate local information.